1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head for an ink-jet printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ink-jet printers are known as one kind of terminal equipment for computers. FIG. 1 is a schematic front elevational view showing a conventional head for an ink-jet printer. As shown in FIG. 1, the illustrated head has a glass container 1 provided with two recesses, a first piezoelectric element 5a, and a second piezoelectric element 5b. A first stainless plate 2a is disposed to cover one recess of the glass container 1, and this recess and the first stainless plate 2a form a first ink chamber 3a. The other recess is covered by a second stainless plate 2b, and this recess and the second stainless plate 2b form a second ink chamber 3b. The first ink chamber 3a is formed to communicate with a first nozzle 4a, while the second ink chamber 3b is formed to communicate with a second nozzle 4b. A first piezoelectric element 5a is fixed to the first stainless plate 2a, while a second piezoelectric element 5b is fixed to the second stainless plate 2b. As described above, the head in FIG. 1 includes two nozzle units disposed in parallel, each of which consists of the chamber, the piezoelectric element, the stainless plate and the nozzle.
The operation of the conventional head will be explained below with reference to FIG. 2, which is a schematic front elevational view showing the head of FIG. 1.
In its operation, a voltage is applied across the first piezoelectric element 5a to cause it to contract in the direction indicated by an arrow A. The first stainless plate 2a fixed to the first piezoelectric element 5a is, in turn, deflected in the direction indicated by an arrow B. As the first stainless plate 2a is deflected in the direction of the arrow B, pressure is applied to the ink in the first ink chamber 3a and a jet of ink droplets is expelled from the first nozzle 4a. Each of the first nozzle 4a and the second nozzle 4b is made to independently perform the above-described operation, thereby enabling information to be recorded.
A head for an ink-jet printer is constructed such that a plurality of nozzle units, each of which is similar to the nozzle unit shown in FIG. 1, are arranged in parallel. In such a construction, since each ink chamber is provided with a piezoelectric element in the above-described manner, the production of the head requires time-consuming processes to individually equip the piezoelectric element to each ink chambers and so on.